Monthly Archives: September 2007

The 12-story high Lighthouse is a bright Beacon welcoming 68,756 New England Patriots Fans!
Since September 9, 2002, every New England Patriots home game has been sold out.

The 130-foot high Lighthouse replica is the signature architectural symbol of Gillette Stadium. Architect John Bolles designed the stadium’s main entrance to capture the maritime heritage of New England’s coastal communities. At field level, a coastal seawall was constructed using sculpted rock formations around the base of the Lighthouse.

The postmodern Lighthouse is a skeletal steel representation of the traditional lighthouses along the New England coastline. During the night games, the Lighthouse was planned to exhibit a vertical beam of Light 2-miles into the sky after each score. Currently, the functional Lighthouse casts a vertical Light beam throughout the night games.

A replica arched bridge was designed to resemble Boston’s famous Longfellow Bridge and traverses next to the Lighthouse over the main entrance to give fans a unique perspective of the game!

Rob Benchley is the official photographer for the move of the Blazing Star Lighthouse.
Rob has prepared a excellent online photo slideshow to chronicle this rare historic event!
Currently, Rob’s slideshow has documented the preparation work for the move and a daily update of the move will be posted at the Sconset Trust Home Page, www.sconsettrust.org.

For example, the “Under the Lighthouse” Slideshow by photo-journalist Rob Benchley is incredible! Navigate through the screens to the September 20 date.

Sankaty Head Light was turned off today for the move scheduled to start on Monday, October 1, 2007. The Lighthouse has been excavated and lifted 3-feet above its foundation and is ready for relocation. A Hydraulic horizontal jacking system will push Sankaty Head Lighthouse 62-inches every 10 minutes! A previous post called “Lighthouse Locomotion” explored the events leading to final decision to relocate the Lighthouse 390-feet inland.

As a guest author for Paula the Surf Mom’s Outer Banks Surfing Blog, I wrote a two part post about Cape Hatteras Lighthouse, the jewel of North Carolina.

Part 1:
Cape Hatteras Lighthouse, the towering gem of our nation, has a fascinating story of engineering technology taken to new heights! Cape Hatteras Lighthouse is a good example of how the height of Lighthouses played a important role in how far the Light could be seen at sea. » Click here to read more

and Part 2:
The five-wick whale oil lamp consumed 6 gallons every night. Lighthouse Keepers carried about 45-pounds of whale oil up 268 spiral steps every night. To keep the Light rotating and shining bright, Wickies rewound the clockwork mechanism every 12 hours and polished the 1,000 prisms of the Fresnel lens every day for $800 per year. » Click here to read more

The jewel of North Carolina is perhaps the best place to view the ever-changing spectacular scenery of the Cape Hatteras shoreline! For those who love the surf or love to surf, please visit Paula’s OBX surf reports.

The Lighthouse Kids continue to raise funds to rescue White Island Lighthouse from storm damage. Recently, they donated $100,000 to rebuild the marine landing ramp that was washed away during the Patriots Day Nor’easter of April 16, 2007.

White Island Lighthouse, located 7-miles offshore from Portsmouth, New Hampshire, is exposed to powerful ocean storms. The Nor’easter also washed away the solar panels and the covered walkway connecting the Keeeper’s house to the tower.

White Island Lighthouse was built to mark the Isles of Shoals, a treacherous group of nine low lying islands that obstruct navigation approaching Portsmouth Harbor in New Hampshire. After White Island Light became automated on Oct 10, 1986, the Coast Guard Keepers were removed and the abandoned Light Station was battered and damaged by ocean storms.
For more information about the Lighthouse, please click on the photo of this post.

The Lighthouse Kids is a inspirational story about a nonprofit group of North Hampton seventh graders organized by Sue Reynolds in 2000 to save their abandoned Lighthouse! After five years of raising funds, the Lighthouse Kids donated $110,000 to the State of New Hampshire on June 22, 2005. Governor John Lynch accepted their check and authorized the restoration of the endangered White Island Light Station. Fortunately, the Tower restoration completed in 2005 saved the Lighthouse during Patriots Day Nor’easter.

Since April 16, 2007, major Lighthouse repairs have been on hold until a new landing ramp is constructed. Ramp construction is scheduled for a mid-October completion to reopen the access to repair the Light Station thanks to the determined efforts of the Lighthouse Kids!

On Sep 18, 2007, the Coast Guard opened Whaleback Ledge Lighthouse for tours to the nonprofit organizations interested in acquiring the Light. The tours are a part of the application process provided by the General Services Administration, the real estate agent for the Lighthouse. The National Parks Service will review the applications and decide who will own Whaleback Ledge Lighthouse based on their financial, management, and preservation plans.

After the inspection, Casey Jordan, president of Beacon Preservation in Ansonia, Connecticut, noted the Lighthouse was like “the Rock of Gibraltar; it’s in such good shape.” Hampton, NH-based Lifewise Community Projects and the American Lighthouse Foundation in Rockland, Maine also inspected the Lighthouse on Thursday.

The following link provides information about the Lighthouse to prospective owners: Notice of Availability
The pdf document has some interesting photos of the interior of the Lighthouse and the boat dock access to the Lighthouse.

From the news article or absent from the news article, there was no mention of a PETA Lighthouse Cafe which is a good sign that only interested nonprofit groups will preserve, maintain, and provide Coast Guard access to Light to keep the Beacon functional!

Based on the feedback comments from Timothy Harrison and Jeremy D’Entremont in the previous post, Lighthouse Support, the future of Whaleback Ledge Lighthouse is looking bright!

For more information about Whaleback Ledge Lighthouse, please click on the photo of this post.